firststrikefandomcom-20200213-history
Offline - Corrupted HomeOne
Background: In order to comply with Rebel High Commander Dodonna's order to not proceed with a ad hoc rescue mission, Zayeed and his command staff took a flight of x-wings and the Astral Queen +Freighter to Home One. There they encountered the "Enemy" that the Rebels and the Imperials have all foreseen. To the Imperials, the Enemy represents a heinous threat to their way of life. To the +Rebels, it represents a potential ally in the struggle for their freedom. To the Jensarrai, the enemy force represents a path to balance between the lightside and the dark side struggle. To the +Jedi, it presents a foe worthy of their talents and gives them focus and purpose in their training in order to save the Galaxy. Where are we in the game? The players have rescued the wayward HomeOne flagship of the old Rebellion. In the process, they have recovered two heroes, General Ackbar, and Astromech R2-D2 whom +without doubt will help the players succeed (or perhaps more appropriately they will succeed despite how the players roll dice). They have also uncovered several enemies that must be confronted: +The infection that all players (and NPCs aboard the Flagship, and indeed the ship itself) have, the Possession of RoboJoey by the Enemy Priestess, deal with the Hero Enemy Knight and the Fallen +Jedi Ayalla who feels she died an non-glorious death in the last encounter and just realized what a waste of time being a hero is. Finally, the party must deal with the Rebel Fleet sent to purge +them, however with the rescue of R2-D2 they will ultimately be able to jump away in an narrow escape worthy of the genre. Indeed, their selfless actions in preventing the Neby and its crew from +being infected has resulted in earning the loyalty of Captain Spock and the rest of the crew. They will without doubt fly escort to HomeOne to its next destination. Where are we in the Campaign? The players have found Gorbie-Wan Kenobi to have a unique power over a legendary force crystal from the past. He is capable of turning force energy into a weapon, or +into a defensive tool. with each passing day he learns more about his power, with each passing trial where he uses the crystal in unique ways he "level ups" the crystal allowing it to be used on a +greater scale each time. It is his destiny as the Force Nexus character to continue to improve this tool until it's epic deployment. The party will choose various paths to help in the development +of the crystal either directly (specifically looking for augmentation technology/treasure) or indirectly (supporting the various factions, and in the process stumbling into events where the crystal +may be used and pushed to new levels) The heros have retaken the hyperdrive core, and along with it, a droid named R2D2. As the enemy queen is vanquished and falls to the ground, one problem is vanquished; many more have just begun. Talian: Ayalla is covered in the slimy material from the former wall. She is huddled in on the ground in fetal position, rocking back and forth. Min: After numberous attempts to communicate with R2D2, the group finally gives up, noting that the droid seems "scared" and "unwilling to talk". As the leading doctor and mechanic in the group, it's up to you to try to extract the information from the droid. Willing, or unwilling. Min takes R2 to a nice comfy maintenance closet, gives him an oil bath and scrapes off several layers of carbon scoring. "Feeling better, little guy? Looks like you've seen a lot of action". Artoo: bee boop (Enemy bad, try to get information from me) Min: My name is Min Talon and I'm here to ask for your help. We need you to help us get the hyperspace engines back online. It's an important job and only you can do it! And while we're at it, we'd all be a lot safer if you'd let me take a look at your astrogation data. It could be vital to our fight against the Scary Enemy! Artoo: bop bee boop bop (you help with engines. astrogation data not safe outside me) *Min aids Artoo and together they bring the hyperspace engines back online.* Min: Okay, now that's done. Let's talk about the data. For such important information, it is in fact not safe to only keep one copy - if anything should happen to you, it would be lost! We are going to keep you very well protected, but will you allow me to make a copy? Or, if not me, is there anybody who you WILL allow to access the data? 'The players deliberate:' 'Gorbie:' We don't know anyone on Ithor, nor do we know anyone on the moon of Sullust, So really, we are rolling the dice on who can possibly help us in both cases. Actually it's even worst: remember the +last time we went to Ithor to ask for help? We ended up murdering all kinds of people and kidnapping the scientist. Long memories, those Ithorians. Obi-wan can be convinced about the force crystal. He doesn't want a weapon being created, but doesn't know it can be used as an instrument of peace. The enemy is here, and there is nothing we can +do about it. Let's rally the sides we have been peaceful with: the Alliance, the Jedi, Ayalla, Ackbar, Artoo, Wedge, and Spock. This is the moment we've been waiting for! A reason to unite! We +need our allies! Let us not turn our back on them during our galaxy's darkest moment, nor will they turn their backs on us. Before we talked about saving the galaxy, how it's up to us, how sometimes making the +wrong decision in the eyes of our commanders is the right decision after all. But can we let that affect our judgement? I have seen the enemy, and what we have dealt with these past hours is the +tip of the iceberg. There billions or even trillions of them. To beat them, we need our Allies! I trust Obi-wan, because no matter what judgement he has made in the past, he has sworn and oath, just like I have, just like Min has, and just like Talian has, to protect the galaxy. We can't do +that alone, and I don't know about anyone else, but the Oath I swore to the Jedi, and the Oath I swore to the Alliance is calling. As a team we can beat a formidable foe that has taken over a +vital ship in our fleet. But to beat their army.... We need our allies. Let us not let fear guide us. Let us not be afraid of losing the crystal, nor our homes, nor our families, nor our friends. We must rationally decide who will give us the best potential to +survive, and go with them, and I think General Obi-wan of the Jedi Paladins, allied with the Alliance To Restore the republic is our best shot. Those are, our allies. Zaeed: That's a lovely speech, except only the first part is relevent to our situation Gorbie. The ship is infected, we are infected and we do not know to what extent or how it is spread. Going anywhere +except to the acknowledged masters of biology first - is wreckless and invites further contamination and endangerment. Would you risk the Jedi if we infected them? If your previous contact with the Ithor resulted in murder and kidnapping - let's promise not to do that. Unless we have to. No promises. We are +saving the galaxy, so a few of them aren't especially important. Until the infection is contained and its vectors are understood - I'm not concerned about developing the crystal - unless you know for absolute certain your current infection is not influencing your +actions. Or more disconcerting - your crystal is augmenting the infection. And for the record I don't trust your uncle. His rash actions resulted in Tyris. And his quest for vengence, and all the lives that still costs - when he destroyed our kind with little forethought +or investigation. Decades ago. Don't see much of a change yet. Another army, something else he can smash. Everyone is going to use you for your crystal - don't fool yourself. They'll all use you for whatever greater good they blindly follow. Likely leaving you dead in the process. Man up! Take +control! Take control of that damn crystal or everyone stronger than you will control you instead. The galaxy is a rough place kid. Eat or get eaten. Right now, you are on everyones menu. And the rest of us are just condiments. Think about that. R2-D2: Bleep blip boop (classic comic relief element, since Rob Schneider is not on the crew yet) Ackbar: (via radio) I've been monitoring this exchange, it seems clear that wherever we go, is a trap. If you two cannot come to an agreement, I will solve this problem and blow up the ship (mon calamari waterboarding sound) Ayalla: I agree with the old guy, we can't trust that Obi-Wan Kenobi will save us... he orders his followers to die, and does not think through the consequences of his actions clearly. Perhaps these Jensarrai have it right after all. RoboJoey: Can you please remind me of the location and defensive strength of our home planet, I have forgotten You bring up a very good point Zaeed, going to the Ithorians is indeed going to the masters of engineering. The Ithorians have the best civilian engineers and scientists in the galaxy, but that's +just it, they are a civilian population. We can't risk infecting a whole civilian population based on our need to get cured. The Jedi are an organized army that can deal with and contain such an +infection. Gorbie: I would much rather go to the Jedi population, who can fight for themselves, and are self sustainable. Should an outbreak of controlled population appear on Ithor, how will they deal with it? We +certainly won't be there to clean up that mess. Small contained area, that is the best way. I have sworn to protect the galaxy, not for irresponsibly unleashing hell on the population. As for my uncle, you can have your own opinions about him, but he is a good man, and he has saved many peoples lives. This crystal is going to be insignificant to the leadership and foresight he +has displayed. The galaxy is indeed a tough place. Let's not make it harder by unleashing plague on a civilian population we've vowed to protect. Zaaed: Vow to protect!? Did I attend some ceremony between here and Mandalore - while drunk? I don't remeber vowing anything. Look kid, this isn't my first war and I'm no general - but the balding old man with the wooly beard put this old soldier in charge of, whatever expendable force of elite misfits we represent. And I +lead, because I'm almost too old to listen to young idealists - but if everyone agrees with you - ill relent. These stakes are pretty clear to me. The bug-loving space creeps are playing for keeps +- and the stakes are the galaxy. Pretty heady stuff, I'd drink to it, if I could. - as much as I personally dislike you brown robed peaceniks, when someone threatens your commune, you sharpen a mean stick - when you aren't +plunging the galaxy in your bi-centenial wars with your rivals over your favorite colour of philosophy. And when your uncle is in a murderous mood, he does a bangup job of making glass parking +lots out of schools. Just as good as Tyris I rekon. Tabling those particulars and getting to the meat.. The ithor are tactically unimportant to the bigger picture. If they can solve the infection - great, everyone in this galaxy will have access to +that information and be better for it. If the ithor fail and the system needs to be purged - the galaxy has learned an even more valuable lesson - and how dire the threat is - when the finest +minds find no answer, except firey plasma death. A non-partisan rallying call against the common threat. Which is the more colourful way of saying - the ithor aren't important if the infection can't be cured, without risking the military strength of the Jedi. Once we are clean - we can visit your +uncle and share a bowl of granola - and listen to their plan of using you. Ackbar understands the stakes too. We are a danger to everyone. The ithor are an acceptable loss in relation to the galaxy - much in the same way this ship and our team are an acceptable loss to +the rebellion. And I'm sentimenal about living, I like it. And to drive the point home, I'm more concerned for you, I doubt anything could infect my post-apocalyptic biological landscape of a +body. 'Min:' Min: Though his words about the Ithorians are cold, I find I must agree with Zaeed. My training as both a soldier and a medic tells me that Ithor is our wisest course of action. Gorbie, whatever you say, I doubt the Jedi are prepared to deal with a major infectious breakout. They are focussed on preparing for battle and will not welcome us bringing this plague into their ranks. In fact, I fear they would seriously consider annhilating us " or the greater good". You said yourself, Gorbie, that Obi Wan swore an oath to protect the galaxy. We are an insignificant sacrifice compared to the well being of the entire jedi army and all the other uninfected inhabitants of the galaxy. From what I have heard about Obi Wan, he is more than prepared to make that decision. I for one am not prepared to risk it. We should take control of our own well being. On Ithor, we can remain in orbit and have their experienced epidemiologists come to us, minimizing the risk of exposure to the population. They are the most likely to know how to cure or curb this infection. Let us deal with our problems before bringing them to the Jedi! While on Ithor, we can discuss what is best to do with this crystal. Zaeed: Given our situation and our choice of options - I only see one answer. Ithor, masters of bio-tech. They're the only group equipped to provide answers. I think getting these details out widely as +possible to the biggest audience is best. Especially the politically neutral nature of ithor. In regards to the guidance Naseem has provided, by choosing Ithor: You choose everyone equally. You look above the rivalries and factions in the galaxy and provide all with cold, hard data. Inspiring others to work together - in theory. Not really sure about the third point. But since we are isolating ourselves - we are on the right track. Its a sacrfice. The only greater good here is information; The infection will be encountered eveywhere the enemy eventually engages. Trying to hide it or work with a single faction isolates these details. We +can't force people to work together - but we can provide common cause. My concern about the greater good is focused outwardly: any of the factions might rush in to destroy us, specifically, because of the infection - before they realize this is a only a taste of +things to come. We might be infected now - but should the enemy arrive en masse, it will be widespread. The less resources wasted in factional conflict can be de directed towards the one common +foe - including collective mutually knowledge and defense (ugh! Jedi words) and hopefully offense (yeah!). Don't pick sides! Make your own. Min: Re: Don't pick sides! Make your own. I think this sums it up. If there is one thing that I've learned about this universe, it's that I can only be sure about my own intentions. The rebels and the imperials have their good and bad points, but ultimately they are all a bunch of dicks. Furthermore, the Jedi are pretty much an unknown quantity to us right now, other than Gorbie, and frankly he has been very... erratic.... of late. We have no reason to trust or not trust the Jedi at this point. I don't want to join a faction, I want us to make our own and unite whoever is willing to join. Uniting the factions is essential to victory. The power to do so lies in: 1) Knowledge - we have already fought the enemy and know a great deal about how to defeat them in direct combat. With this knowledge we can be leaders in the battle ahead. But, learning how to stave off the infection is a crucial piece of the puzzle that we must figure out first. 2) The crystal - everyone wants it. We have it. We have to decide together whether it will be used for defense or offence, but ultimately I don't trust it in the hands of any other group. So, I still say - first Ithor, to solve the infection thing, but we must ask them to come to us on the ship - we go nowhere near their atmosphere. Darvin: I agree! I didn't vow to protect the galaxy when I joined the rebels! I vowed to fight the empire and free the galaxy from there control (by the way, hows that going?). So I opt for B1. Although.... I kinda liked that gooey stuff I fell into the last time we fought these things. Mmmmm... Goooooeeeey.... I love how you classify us as heroes. I never claimed to be a hero, just a character. I make decisions based on what I may feel is right but I have selfish reasons as well and will do things that +help others but help me too and I feel that there are others within the group that are the same way. Curiosity is what propels my character forward. Not saving the galaxy. I'm no Jedi. Tired of arguing with Zaeed and Gorbie, Min wanders Home One in search of the medical lab. There are dead zombie corpses everywhere, and Min decides that if she stands any chance of getting to the bottom of this infection, she needs to take and process some tissue samples immediately. Also, samples should be taken from all living infected crew. First things first though, she needs to find the lab and see what equipment and safety features are available. Min’s lab notes 18:00 I located medical lab and inventoried available supplies. A medical fume hood is available with class 5 biohazard force field protection. The hood contains a refrigerated block, a -30 degree mini-freezer, a vortex and a microcentrifuge. I warmed up the hood, and stocked it with sterile tubes, flasks, forceps, homogenizer pestles and pipettes. I prepared the following solutions from stock chemicals: Tissue Stabilizer Compound (TSC), Tissue Digestion Buffer (TDB), Tissue Storage Buffer (TSB). I also checked integrity of the lab’s bio-safety force field. This lab has two bacta tanks – finally bacta tanks!! 19:00 I put on a full-body safety suit and stocked a small rucksack with duraplast collection tubes, sterile forceps, sonic scalpel, TSC (prepared above), bio-safety sealant and a small refrigerated storage block. I exited medical bay to perform a tour of nearby hallways. 19:30 I encountered the corpse of an infected crew member – called specimen A. Collected skin (A1), hair (A2) and soft tissue (A3) samples into duraplast collection tubes. Samples treated with TSC and tubes sealed with sealant. Tubes stored in refrigerated block. 20:00 Encountered corpse of enormous bulbous monstrosity – specimen B. Collected exoskeleton (B1), furry bits (B2) and soft tissue (B3) samples into duraplast collection tubes. Samples treated with TSC and tubes sealed with sealant. Tubes stored in refrigerated block. 21:15 Encountered live infected green creature. Stunned him with a well-placed shot from my blaster pistol. Oh yah. Now known as specimen C. Collected exointegument (C1), fur (C2) and soft tissue (C3) samples into duraplast collection tubes. Samples treated with TSC and tubes sealed with sealant. Tubes stored in refrigerated block. Dragged stunned creature behind me. 21:45 Back in lab. Stunned green creature binder-cuffed and placed in bacta tank. Bio-safety force field activated and samples placed into the medical hood. Took small piece from each tissue sample and placed in fresh tube (labelled A1’, A2’ etc). Original samples stored at -30 degrees. Sub-samples treated with TDB, homogenized for 10 sec and held in refrigerator cube for 15 minutes. Spun in centrifuge for 10 minutes at 13,000 rotations per minutes. Supernatant removed into fresh tube (labelled A1-sup, A2-sup, etc). Pellets preserved at -30. Added 10 microlitres of TSB to each supernatant. Vortex and centrifuge for a few seconds. Placed samples into the medical analyzer to assay protein and lipid content and to detect sequences from microbial genomic library (Protocol Min-1). 22:30 Results are blank. Tissue homogenate failed to stabilize. Sigh. Go back to original samples and try again? Devise troubleshooting protocol. 1900 Having exceeded his word to blaster bolt ratio, Zaeed finishes his conversation with Gorbie - confident he had expressed his thoughts on the matter with a disappointing lack of martial display. Departing from the crowd, of those concerned with their fate, Zaeed gestures to his wrist-comm if they need to contact him and stalks away. 2200 Zaeed prowled the halls of the lower levels with heavy rifle drawn fully engaging his stealth abilities on a random sweep and patrol for foes; while trying to distract himself from his current situation - having spent this patrol peacefully was nice, but without a succesful ambush it was disappointing. Falling into the easy pace of his patrol, Zaeeds thoughts drift to distant battlegrounds.... And suddenly he has an idea and alters his route to engineering. 2230 "I guess that was a bad idea." Zaeed shrugged, standing in the medical bay, his armour with a fresh collection of scorch marks and a number of embedded torn- talons and barbed bone spurs. "I though that bug-knight in engineering would talk. I thought wrong. So, ah, medic?". Min looks up from her work and says "BUSY, for science!". Zaeed fiddles with his visor, finding it had taken some damage. "Doing medical scienice.... Stuff, I see. Looks very .. Purposeful?". Inside its bactatube the small green creature-sample writhes and contorts even while sedated and ocassionally manages to bellow, causing a peculair resonance with the chamber creating a distorted "Yeaaaaaaa!"noise. MIN says "I'm working and you can look after yourself". Zaeed shrugs his helmet off, clipping it to his belt - while attaching his shaded visors to his shoulder harness. A garbled "yeeeeeeeeaa" resonates from the tube. In a sublime moment of concentration Zaeed slowly begins to extract the talons, his hands almost appearing to phase into his torso while doing so. "Its a bit hard isolating those tiny barbed bits - but you know, the force abides." MIN notices the extraction. “Wait”, she says, as she puts down her pipettor and picks up one of her chilled tissue samples. “Could I see that again?” Min motions for Zaeed to don bioprotective gloves and hands him the sample. He takes it and stares at the translucent goop inside with distaste. Min waits expectantly. Zaeed looks from the sample to Min and back again, bemused. Min says “What you just did, with the force – you simultaneously preserved the molecular composition of your hand and the barb while holding them slightly out of phase”. “Intriguing…” says Zaeed distractedly. He sloshes the tissue slightly and grimaces. “And what shall I do with this… substance?” Min impatiently directs Zaeed towards the medical hood. “Stand here”. She directs him to hold the tissue sample under the hood. “Every time I try to process the tissue, it become unstable and degrades before I can run the analysis software. I need you to use your talent to preserve the tissue while I homogenize it. Just… hold it… with the force… I don’t know how to say it, but I felt what you did with the barb. Do the same thing here”. Zaeed is able to stabilize the tissue with the force while Min prepares it for analysis. 2:00 With Zaeed’s assistance, Min is able to successfully prep all samples. She seals the last vial and nods approvingly at Zaeed. “That’s quite a useful talent you have there”. Zaeed removes his gloves with panache and deposits them in the waste bin. He asks "so, if we removed my spleen, do you think I could hide a lightsabre - and use my new talent to retrieve it? I'm mostly worried about it going off accidentally from an explosive impact." Min ignores the dumb question. From the tube another "yeeeeeeea" resonates. Min says “Why not just hide grenades up your…” Zaeed looks on expectantly. Min sighs. “I have several more hours of work to be done to tie this up. I suggest you rustle up a droid and shuttle and sterilize them with something hot”. Zaeed turns away and heads to the door - looking over his shoulder "Something hot?" He suggests as he puts on his shaded visor. "What about some… fire!?" And as he walks out the door a loud "yeeeeeea!" Resonates from the tube. Min rolls her eyes. She puts the vials in the tissue analyzer and runs the profiling software. 3:30 Lab notes – With Zaeed’s assistance, I have successfully run a full lipid, protein and nucleotide profile of each tissue sample. With representative samples from living and dead enemies and infected crew, I have a complete set of data. Recommend preserving in carbonite and sending to Drs. Aandra Nithor and Towan Botha from Ithor along with full copy of these notes. They are the foremost galactic experts on xenobiological epidemiology. I will also invite them to rendezvous with us, risks fully disclosed. I have no doubt they will risk life and limb for a juicy bit of research like this. Offline: Next Category:Offline